Psychological stress and glucose metabolism in obese and normal-weight subjects: a possible mechanism for differences in stress-induced eating.
Acute psychological stress has been found to impair the handling of a glucose load in normal-weight individuals and to produce a delay in gastrointestinal transit time. The present study utilized the same paradigm to compare 10 obese and 10 normal-weight subjects. All subjects participated in two counterbalanced sessions (stress and nonstress). At each session, subjects were fed a carbohydrate load, and glucose was measured 0, 30, 60, 90, and 120 min after the load. On nonstress days, subjects relaxed after the drink; on stress days, subjects participated in 30 min of competitive tasks. The stressor significantly delayed the glucose response in the normal-weight subjects but did not affect the glucose response in obese subjects. This finding may have implications for differences between obese and normal-weight individuals in stress-induced eating, possibly explaining the decreased consumption of normal-weight individuals during stress.
Wing
R R
RR
Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, PA 15213.
Blair
E H
EH
Epstein
L H
LH
McDermott
M D
MD
D000786:Anger / Q000502:physiology; D001007:Anxiety / Q000097:blood; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology*; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000378:metabolism*; D004435:Eating / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000097:blood / Q000523:psychology*; D011340:Problem Solving / Q000502:physiology; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications*
D001786:Blood Glucose